The Japan Trip Resource Thread!

[r3z]

Some Japanese friends of mine have been putting savings into pound recently.. unfortunately they changed most while it was still around 140~160. Still, the last time most of them were over in the UK it was 220+ so their next trips will be much cheaper, and any they save for the long term will probably give them a nice profit (better than any Japanese savings account seeing as their interest rate has been practically 0 for years) - both the Yen is strong and the Pound is weak so you have to expect one or the other to balance out (or both).

When I was studying in Japan a couple of years ago it was the reverse, and I thought the pound was way overvalued at 245 yen so I made the most of it.

[randombs]

131 YEN TO THE POUND!

I've never been this excited about an exchange rate before!

Mind you, I've never been this upset about an exchange rate before...

[teddymeow]

Well, one more day of work and then I'm off for two weeks. More excited about this year than last for some reason?!

Won't be getting to the hotel until maybe 7pm Friday evening (Japan time) which could make dinner interesting by the time we've checked in and sorted out our luggage.

See you all later!

[kryss]

Go have Yoshinoya's new "oyako don" for dinner. I'll be having that some time this week.

[randombs]

My mates had that yesterday at a Japanese restaurant in Soho, we had a good giggle over the name. Imagine a restaurant doing a literal translation

[saif]

Tokyo Diner in Chinatown (good food by the way) does give translations of the dishes. I love the name - first time I saw it (in Japan), I had to eat it for the name!

[teddymeow]

Oyako-don sounds good!

One of my friends has said he's going to take us to a couple of decent Katsu restaurants. Katsidon will always be my favourite!

[teddymeow]

Landed, all good! Best flight ever!

Met Grant from Feeder on the plane which was cool! Going to a speacial gig they`re playing Sunday night. Sweeet!

Didn`t have Oyako-don last night. Found a tiny Katsu place and had the most amazing Katsu-don and some Kara age chicken on the side.

Off to Omotesando and the Meiji shrine today.

Love it!!

[wakka]

**** you man

[kryss]

I was in Niigata today, Toukamachi to be precise. Lots of snow and food! And free sake!

Of course, someone jumped in front of a train at Omiya in the afternoon and screwed up the Shinkansen that go through there, meaning we had to queue in the freezing cold to get on a train home rather than just take our reserved seats close to departure time. We got 50% of the seat cost refunded so that wasn't too bad.

[teddymeow]

Jeez, that`s terrible.

I was on my way to work recently and somebody accidently fell off of the platform under a train. Delayed for ages but at least the person survived! I was getting really angry because there was a group of awful office types all complaining about how inconsiderate the injured party was and how they were going to be late for their meeting! Honestly!

Anyways, off to Akiba today. Somehow I have miscalculated how much money I had so I need to blow the excess on stuff I don`t need!

[Taka]

Landed, all good! Best flight ever!

Met Grant from Feeder on the plane which was cool! Going to a speacial gig they`re playing Sunday night. Sweeet!

Didn`t have Oyako-don last night. Found a tiny Katsu place and had the most amazing Katsu-don and some Kara age chicken on the side.

Off to Omotesando and the Meiji shrine today.

Love it!!

Which airline did you fly with? Catch any glimpses of Taka the bassist?

[teddymeow]

Which airline did you fly with? Catch any glimpses of Taka the bassist?

We flew with JAL. Grant was on his own, he said that the other 2 had already flown out previously. He was in Premium Economy. Our flight attendant said it ws the first time she had seen somebody famous in less than First Class.

The gig was amazing! Support band were Japanese, called "Quattro" and Feeder were seriously awesome. Second time I`ve seen them live. We managed to get right to the front and Grant came over and asked us if we were having a good time. We were shot some looks from the people around us!

Managed to get Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou DX on the Wii for ￥３７８０！A bargain as I think it`s been out less than 2 weeks and the list price is over　￥７０００. Picked up Shikigami no Shiro III too.

Raining this morning but it shouldn`t last too long, fingers crossed.

[Supergoal]

We flew with JAL. Grant was on his own, he said that the other 2 had already flown out previously. He was in Premium Economy. Our flight attendant said it ws the first time she had seen somebody famous in less than First Class.

The gig was amazing! Support band were Japanese, called "Quattro" and Feeder were seriously awesome. Second time I`ve seen them live. We managed to get right to the front and Grant came over and asked us if we were having a good time. We were shot some looks from the people around us!

Managed to get Suzumiya Haruhi no Gekidou DX on the Wii for ￥３７８０！A bargain as I think it`s been out less than 2 weeks and the list price is over　￥７０００. Picked up Shikigami no Shiro III too.

Raining this morning but it shouldn`t last too long, fingers crossed.

Funny you should say that. I flew from Tokyo to London with JAL last December in economy class. Just one section ahead of me was the whole Man Utd team and coaching staff. I remember seeing some of the players queuing up to use the toilet on occasion or walking up and down the aisle.
Perhaps there wasn't enough room to put them into a higher class on the flight.

[teddymeow]

Home now. Good to get in, cuddle the cat and have a nice cup of tea but God do I have the post holiday blues this morning!

It pretty much started when I got off the plane and remembered that I was back in the UK - rude people at Passport control, miserable taxi drivers and people in a hurry getting arsey because my wife was having an issue with her suitcase and was unable to move out of their way fast enough remind me - all these things made me wish I could just get on the plane and head back to Tokyo.

Couple of things I did notice this year:

1. Lots more homeless people around than last year
2. A more cautious attitude was taken by a few people towards us than I had noticed in previous years. Little things like not sitting next to us on the Metro or only being served by certain staff in a store.

Something I need a hand with: I'm trying to track down a Japanese comedian who I saw on TV while I was out there. He is quite an ifeminate chap with shoulder length black hair and wears a nice John Travolta "Saturday Night Fever" style white suit. He comes across as a bit of a ladies' man and a charmer - lots of winking at the camera and pouting - and one of the sketches I saw him do involved him demonstarting the right way to woo a lady and likening it to archery. I later saw him on posters in a convienience store (think it was a 7-11) advertising something random.

Can anybody help me find out who he is?

Thanks.